Making the Perfect Record: From Inscription to Impression in Early Magnetic RecordingMain MenuIntroductionIntroduction to Making the Perfect Record: From Inscription to Impression in Early Magnetic RecordingNotesNotes for “Making the Perfect Record,” American Literature 85.4 (December 2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00029831-2370230, Duke U PMediaMedia for “Making the Perfect Record,” American Literature 85.4 (December 2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00029831-2370230, Duke U PAcknowledgmentsAcknowledgments for “Making the Perfect Record,” American Literature 85.4 (December 2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00029831-2370230, Duke U PTechnical InformationTechnical Information for “Making the Perfect Record,” American Literature 85.4 (December 2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00029831-2370230, Duke U PReferencesReferences for “Making the Perfect Record,” American Literature 85.4 (December 2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00029831-2370230, Duke U PJentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339This essay is part of the “New Media” special issue of American Literature (volume 85, number 4, December 2013). See http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00029831-2370230. Version 1 of the site is (c) 2013 by Duke University Press.
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1media/background.png2013-10-30T16:19:36-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca533924914Journal, Abstract, Acknowledgements, and Related Informationplain2013-11-19T16:38:42-08:00AnonymousAbstract
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12013-11-17T08:30:11-08:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Introduction21Introduction to the Articleplain2013-11-26T12:57:55-08:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339
12013-10-11T13:34:29-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339The Spirit of Sound9The notion of the aura of immaterial sound preceding the recording process is a cultural constructionplain2013-11-26T12:44:23-08:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339
12013-10-18T13:13:15-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339The Telegraphone11The telegraphone was prematurely delegated a number of uses and imbued with a number of meanings before it became widely available.plain2013-11-26T12:44:56-08:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339
12013-10-18T12:58:57-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339From Mechanical to Magnetic4Smith Was Prompted to Develop Magnetic Recording after Visiting Edison's Laboratoryplain2013-11-17T16:41:56-08:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339
12013-10-11T13:59:47-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Smith's Projected Design3Smith projects a range of uses and mechanisms for magnetic recordingplain2013-11-18T16:30:10-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-11T13:09:45-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Clarity--Even at a Distance3The high aesthetic quality of recordings enhances the clarity of communications and induces alienating effectsplain2013-11-18T16:30:38-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-14T17:45:39-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Economic Constraints2Thread was not an economically sustainable medium to use for magnetic recording.plain2013-11-08T14:32:23-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-11T12:17:27-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Marketing3Transforming Smith's idea into a marketable technologyplain2013-11-18T16:31:39-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-18T10:13:53-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Leave a Message3Message recording allowed people to be available in multiple locations at the same time.plain2013-11-18T16:33:41-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-18T10:46:13-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339An Even Earlier Recording Device2Valdemar Poulsen developed a recording mechanism in 1898 using piano wire.plain2013-11-08T15:14:25-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-18T11:11:54-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Remediating the Telephone6The most significant application of the telegraphone was thought to be its ability to record telephone messages; remediating the telephone was essential for creating an answering machine.plain2013-11-19T16:20:49-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-14T18:25:56-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Award-winning Technology2The telegraphone was an award-winning product at the 1900 Paris World Exhibition.plain2013-11-08T14:54:20-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-14T18:17:11-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339The Myth of the Lone Inventor2Scientific exhibitions often give the impression that inventors work and succeed individually by masking all of the work that went into a product for the sake of the shock value that having a new product simply "appear" would have on an audience.plain2013-11-08T14:50:39-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-11T14:18:27-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Providing a Technical Education3The Franklin Institute strives to give the general public a knowledge of the mechanical artsplain2013-11-18T16:37:36-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-11T12:28:27-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Widespread Technical Applications4Fankhauser projects that the telegraphone will radically change most aspects of social lifeplain2013-11-18T16:38:22-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-14T18:03:56-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Interoperability: The Missing Piece3The uses of the telegraphone could not scale up because it did not integrate well with the existing infrastructure.plain2013-11-18T16:39:46-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-11T14:11:04-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Reeve Advertises and Educates3Reeve brings new technology into the mainstream in his scientific detective fictionplain2013-11-18T16:41:10-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-11T13:53:58-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339The Dangers of Scientific Realism3It was feared that Reeve's scientific realism would engender potentially dangerous forms of scientific experimentation among his readershipplain2013-11-18T16:42:33-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-14T17:48:28-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Inspiration4Reeve was a key actor in spreading scientific knowledge to the masses through his scientific realist detective stories.plain2013-11-18T16:43:37-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-21T10:16:41-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Writer and Crime Crusader3plain2013-11-18T16:44:12-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-11T14:31:26-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Embellished Realism3Reeve exaggerates his descriptions of the telegraphoneplain2013-11-18T16:45:03-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-14T10:31:33-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Disposing of the Evidence2The telegraphone threatens to become an arbiter of the law in "The Gamblers," but the potential to erase the audio evidence gives Dunlap the sense that he can also wipe human memory clean.plain2013-11-08T14:29:57-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-18T10:41:30-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Developing the Telegraphone's Image3It is productive to look at Reeve's descriptions of the telegraphone as part and parcel of the larger project, which fostered technological knowledge across disciplines.plain2013-11-18T16:47:07-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-14T18:00:12-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Interdisciplinary Force2The telegraphone's ideologies remained consistent in spite of its interdisciplinary use and influence.plain2013-11-08T14:40:14-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-11T13:38:29-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Shaping the Telegraphone's Commodity Character2The functional and social impact of the telegraphone preceded its actualizationplain2013-11-08T14:06:31-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-18T11:00:35-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339A Prehistory for the Hard Drive3Though the telegraphone never became a pervasive device in society, it can be investigated as an antecedent to the hard drive.plain2013-11-17T16:21:03-08:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339
12013-10-14T18:22:29-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339Marketing the Telegraphone3Marketing for the telegraphone emphasized and exaggerated its best aspects: clear audio, re-writability, and productive listening; fiction in "expert" texts can be just as rampant as in something like a detective novel.plain2013-11-18T16:51:13-08:00Anonymous
12013-10-14T18:23:48-07:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339The Materiality of the Telegraphone2Thesisplain2013-11-08T14:52:50-08:00Anonymous
12013-11-17T08:33:18-08:00Jentery Sayersbecbfb529bffcfafdfad6920ed57b30ccdca5339References5References for the Articleplain2013-11-18T16:01:37-08:00Anonymous